Del Oro's Heyer one-hits Woodcreek 3-0

LOOMIS — It initially was ruled an error; upon further review, it was a hit — the only hit Keith Heyer allowed against a hard-hitting Woodcreek lineup Saturday.

The Del Oro High School senior right-hander has been hard to touch this season, and he came up with another big performance in a 3-0 Sierra Foothill League victory that salvaged game three of the Golden Eagles’ series with the Timberwolves.

“That’s our secret to success,” coach Jeff Dietrich said of Heyer, who improved to 3-1 and lowered his ERA to 1.56 with his third complete game and third shutout.

The 6-foot, 195-pounder walked one and struck out seven. After pitching a 1-2-3 seventh, Heyer and his teammates celebrated what they thought was his second no-hitter this season — he no-no’d Colfax on Feb. 28 — but Austin Blatnick’s tough chopper that couldn’t be gloved on a short-hop later was changed from an error to a hit.

“He has a filthy cutter and a great curve. He throws backward and locates well,” Dietrich said of Heyer, who has allowed 12 hits and has 36 strikeouts in 31 1/3 innings. “When he’s rolling, it’s good.”

Of course, Heyer had help. Junior second baseman Therin Heryford made a backhand stab of a grounder in the third, and sophomore catcher Bryce Beauchamp threw out a runner trying to steal second.

“There were a lot of good plays behind me,” Heyer said with a smile. “It’s pretty awesome.”

Dietrich opted to save his ace for Saturday instead of matching him against Woodcreek star Stephen Nogosek in game one last Tuesday. Nogosek pitched a one-hitter with 12 strikeouts in the opener, and Tyler Milani tossed a three-hitter for the Timberwolves on Thursday.

“We were hoping to steal one, to be honest,” Dietrich said.

And steal one Del Oro (5-9 overall, 1-2 SFL) did. The Golden Eagles took a 1-0 lead on a two-out error in the bottom of the fourth and made it 3-0 in the fifth on Trevor Sloss’ hit and another error.

Coach Eric Valencia said his Sac-Joaquin Section Division II-champion Timberwolves (11-3, 2-1) taking two of three to open the SFL campaign was “positive.”

“Gotta get two out of three,” he said. “(Heyer) was hot on the mound. That’s the game. It’s baseball.”